A food fetish is an intense and persistent sexual arousal linked to specific foods. People with food fetishes may feel aroused by the smell, feel, and taste of particular foods. They can also get turned on by watching others eat or interact with food. Some food fetishists are also turned on by eating foods prepared with bodily fluids or feeding these foods to others. People may satisfy their food fetish through active participation in the fetish or by passively viewing food fetish content, such as food fetish porn. As a food fetish is often linked to the consumption of specific foods, it is sometimes called an eating fetish.
While it's difficult to determine how common food fetishes are around the world, as there are very limited formal studies into this phenomenon, some ways of enjoying a food fetish are more common in different locations. For example, nyotaimori restaurants, where people eat sushi from the bodies of a naked model, are mostly found in Japan.
Why Are People Aroused By Food?
Interacting with food engages all the senses. When it does, it ignites the same part of the brain that sex does. Given this overlap, it’s easy to understand why people can become aroused by food as they do with physical touch.
“People like the smell and tactile sensations of food. Others really like the fact that food is messy, especially if you’re incorporating whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or something of a similar texture,” explained Zachary Zane, a sex columnist, activist, and the author of "Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto". “It’s fun, arousing, and freeing to have “messy” sex. To really let go in a sexual context and food can help with that. There are often elements of dominance and submission involved in food play as well—consensually “forcing” your partner to consume a beverage or food. Then, I’d argue there’s something just inherently sexual about food. So much of food is wet and moist, and you put it in your mouth, and it makes you feel good. Like, that’s just very sexual!”
Some people get aroused by the similarities they see between food and genitalia. Role-play scenarios where one partner eats these foods in an eroticized manner while the other watches can appeal to people who make this connection. There are can also be a voyeuristic element to people’s attraction to food. People who enjoy watching others experience pleasure may love observing people eat or play with food.
In modern society, which tends to label food as good or bad, some foods can become taboo and therefore more desirable. People may develop food fetishes surrounding foods they feel guilty eating, like cakes or chocolate for example.
“Many of us have an unhealthy relationship with food and obsess over our weight and body size, so playing with food in a sexual context can actually be therapeutic,” Zane added. “It can help us let go of some of the obsessions we have around food and the shame we have around our bodies.
Similar Fetishes
A food fetish often overlaps with a wet and messy (WAM) fetish, which links sexual desire with covering or covering others with wet, messy, non-bodily substances.But the term can also connect to sploshing and salirophilia. It can be similar to feederism, as both fetishes can involve being aroused by eating or watching someone else eat. However, feeders are also typically turned on by seeing someone gain weight while feedees get aroused by gaining weight. Weight gain isn’t a source of arousal for people who only have a food fetish.
Salirophilia, a fetish for sullying a partner, can also overlap with a food fetish. People who have a food fetish and salirophilia may get turned on by starting a food fight with their partner, for example.
Related Terms
The following terms are related to food fetish:
- Sitophilia: The formal name for a food fetish.
- Food play: Any sensual play involving food. This can be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in food, including people with a food fetish.
- Sploshing: A subcategory of wet and messy fetish involving covering the body or someone else's with wet, messy food.
- Food porn fetish: A fetish for pornography involving food.
Read More: A Beginner's Guide to Food Play
How Does Food Facilitate Eroticism or Arousal?
Food facilitates eroticism and arousal by awakening all the senses you have, which vary from person to person, explains Anarella Martinez, an intimacy coordinator at adult film studio ERIKALUST, which turns fantasies submitted by the public anonymously into erotic films.
"Arousal is heightened when all senses are used," she said. "Sex and pleasure are better when a candle is lit, there is music to help the mood, and the bedding is made from silk to feel great against the skin. Food can add to these senses in more ways than one! Not only does it smell good, but it feels and tastes good. By playing with honey, strawberries, or something sweet in the bedroom, lots of senses can be stimulated."
Food also contains compounds that can boost the libido and make getting aroused easier, sometimes considered aphrodisiacs. For example, foods rich in flavonoids like citrus fruits and chili peppers get the blood pumping to all areas of the body, including the genitals. There’s a link between foods rich in nitrates like beetroot and spinach and strong erections. Pomegranates increase testosterone levels, which in turn boosts libido. The aspartic acid in asparagus neutralizes the excess ammonia that can make people feel tired and disinterested in sex.
What’s On the Menu?
People can have food fetishes for all different kinds of foods, leading Martinez to joke, "What aren't some foods that people fetishize?! From chocolate to seafood, we have seen it all. The typical (and maybe the sexiest) foods that people fetishize are often dessert foods, strawberries, honey, chocolate, milkshakes… However, oysters, nuts, and asparagus are also some very powerful aphrodisiacs!"
When this fetish overlaps with a wet and messy fetish, people may prefer substances like whipped cream (with or without desserts) or peanut butter. Some people have fetishes for foods with similarities to genitalia. For example, they may get turned on by phallic-shaped foods like bananas and carrots, or foods that are linked to female genitalia, such as peaches.
How Are Food Fetishes Portrayed in Porn?
Many pornographic videos designed to appeal to food fetishists on mainstream porn platforms show people eating foods that include bodily fluids, such as semen or urine. Some of these videos focus on the consumption of food while others also show people ejaculating over foods, through masturbation or hand jobs. There are also pornographic food fetish videos that show people inserting foods, such as fruits and vegetables, inside their vaginas or anuses.
Some adult film studios like ERIKALUST create more complex, plot-driven works that show a more realistic representation of human sexuality, including fetishes. Martinez says several ERIKALUST films show food play and fetishes. "'La Journée des Framboises' shows a couple having an intimate, finger food picnic which leads to more and it’s a beautiful story of a couple wanting to experiment. We also had so much fun filming 'Milkshake', a fantasy from a girl who wants to get down and dirty in a retro American diner. Another great film that includes food play is 'The Wedding', that ends on a sex scene with lots of cake involved."
While not strictly classed as pornography, there are also online broadcasts called mukbang designed to appeal to food fetishists. Mukbang streamers interact with their live audience while eating large quantities of food.
